Several rights groups, particularly those openly critical of the government, reported problems with registration and government blocking of funds for their projects.

Several leading labour rights activists faced criminal charges, some of which carry a possible death sentence.

Flawed trials against members of Bangladesh Rifles accused of mutineering in 2009 continued, HRW said.

The report referred to glaring violations of fair trial standards in the trials of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), a wholly domestic court set up to try those accused of war crimes in the 1971 independence war.

HRW has long called for justice for victims in the 1971 liberation war.

Serious flaws in the law and rules of procedure governing these trials have however gone unaddressed, despite proposals from the US government and many international experts.